90 



Their afifection towards their young is also great, and they 

 may be enticed within shot, or even brought on shore, by 

 imitating the whining cry of the cub, especially if they have 

 been deprived of it " 



" The Common Seal varies in colour as well as in size. 

 Macgillivray describes " the young as at first of a light bluish- 

 gray above, clouded with darker yellowish-gray beneath, and the 

 first coat of hair is longer and more bristled than the rest. 

 When the pile is about to be shed it becomes of a uniform pale 

 greyish yellow or whitish tint. In young individuals the spots 

 are darker and more numerous ; in very old ones, they are few, 

 larger, and generally brown. The claws, at first flattened, or 

 cylindrical, become deeper and more or less carinate, often 

 triangular, in their transverse section." 



" The flesh is dark coloured and rank, but that of young 

 individuals may be eaten ; the fat, which forms a layer beneath 

 the skin, afiords oil of an excellent quality ; the skins are iised 

 for covering trunks as well as being manufactured into leather." 



■'The female brings forth her young in a cavern, or among 

 rocks, where it remains concealed for some days. According to 

 the information which I have received from the country people, 

 only one is produced at a birth, and generally in the middle of 

 summer." 



In Bewick's time Seals appear to have been much more 

 abundant on the British Coasts generally than in later times. 

 Writing in the early part of the last (19th) century, or late in 

 the previous one, he states in his Natural History of Quadru- 

 peds, that '• Seals are found in great abundance on the coasts of 

 Great Britain, particularly in the northern parts of the Island." 



In Messrs. Clarke & Roebuck's " Handbook of the Vertebrate 

 Fauna of Yorkshire," published in 1881 (page 8), the Common 

 Seal, is said to be a " casual visitant of uncommon occurrence 

 along the coast and in the Humber. In the early years of the 

 present century {i.e. 19th) Seals bred in great numbers at the 

 mouth of the Tees, and in 1802, as appears from a document, 

 a copy of which Mr. T. H. Nelson has sent me, they interfered 

 to such an extent with the salmon fishery that determined 

 measures were proposed for their extirpation. There is no 

 evidence to show that the extermination was so effected but it 

 is hardly probable that they would long survive the rapid rise 

 of the Cleveland iron trade and the shipping industries of 

 Middlesbrough, and in all likelihood the decade 1830 to 1840 



